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Friday, November 22, 2013

Happy Friday!

As you have probably guessed today's post is about some new additions to my stash!

I remembered when I started ordering these new patterns I actually started to feel giddy with happiness! But did I really need them? Well yes and no! I have both mystery samplers started and need the other parts to finish them... but the other stuff? Well those were just because. What can I say? I love Christmas and Ella and the Frog is so sweet... I can see hanging it in my future daughter's bedroom :) .... ummmm what's wrong with me? I may not even ever have a daughter but I still want to stitch something that I MIGHT use... really I'm just justifying the purchase with an excuse - I only bought Ella and the Frog because I loved it. I have no idea where I would hang it, but nevertheless I still wanted it.

This leads me to a bigger, more philosophical question... Why is it we feel the need to buy more stash even if we already have plenty to do???? I have charts coming out the ying yang. More projects started than you can shake a stick at. More accessories/fabric/hand dyed thread than I know what to do with! Really... where does it end????

I've been much better recently with buying stash... that is, keeping control of myself and not going ape-shit-crazy over new patterns/fabric/floss. But I've only been better because I've been so mega busy with life and other projects, that are taking a bit of time (and money) away from my stitching. Shockin'... if it's not stitchy stash, it's quilty stash. What a vicious cycle!

In the end I'm not going to set one of those goals you see proclaiming "I WILL NOT BUY STASH FOR A YEAR..." or "I WILL NOT BUY ANYTHING UNTIL MY STASH IS EMPTY..." In the end, and we all know it, those are empty and unachievable goals. Well at least to me they are.

So what to do?

I can't see much in the way of options here. Being dedicated to stitching something as soon as you buy it is difficult, to say the least. So the only option is to remain as frugal as possible, so that my pocket book doesn't suffer too much and my stash doesn't start busting at the seams.

Ahhhh first world problems....

I'll leave you now with a couple of pictures!Last night we had our first snowfall (real one anyway). Really big flakes of snow. Supper sticky... the stuff winter wonderland dreams are made of... and hard hitting snowballs!

The puppies were happy with the snow too! They couldn't get enough of the stuff and wanted to play outside all night long. Here they are this morning ready to play yet again (and looking for those belly rubs)! Too bad the snow turned to slush overnight :/

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

My hands have been very busy over the last couple of weekends doing everything but stitching. Which I need to get at!!! I miss you my dear cross stitch.

With, dare I say it, Christmas on the horizon, I've been busy planning projects to give as gifts. Being a little cash strapped for gifts this Christmas, I've been searching for a way to give the people I care most about something special, that will mean a lot, and not break the bank all at the same time.

And lets face it... I'm not about to be giving away my cross stitch projects (the big ones that is) to anyone anytime soon. I'm not the fastest stitcher, so when I finish a project I have so much emotional and sentimental attachment to it that I just can't bring myself to give it up. AKA: I love them too much.

Perhaps this is a little selfish of me, but I can't see giving away something I've spent literally WEEKS if not MONTHS on. Also there's that other danger that some of you stitchers may relate to, that you work months on a beautiful piece and then big moment comes where you give it to the person it was intended for annnnnnd... nothin'. They don't appreciate... maybe they don't even EVER hang it up! Or worse still they could be like "what on earth is this...." in the bad way.

All I have to say is: NOPE not going there. I've heard way to many horror stories to even consider giving away any of my cross stitches to anyone but my mom (a cross stitcher herself).

What I HAVE decided to do is make some quilted items for some special people. I already had a few jelly rolls lying around and just bought some majorly discounted x-mas fabric, so I figure I'll make something out of them.

A pic of my first quilt... all for me :)

Love the colours :)

New project! Made from a Jelly Roll.

All my scraps! Not bad eh?

Why not……

Pining of the quilt top with help of my best friend. You'd besurprised how fast 100 pins disappear…

I've literally spent the last two weekends piecing, cutting, sewing, ripping..., and sewing some more. I never thought my back could ache so much!!! I woke up this morning and I swear every bone in my upper chest and whole back cracked. As I'm going through the work day, and even as I write now, just the littlest movement lets off an extremely satisfying crack. Hopefully my bones and muscles will get used to this soon because I think it's fair to say I've been bitten by the quilting bug!!! I just want to do it alllllllll :)

At the moment I'm balancing two projects. One that is almost done and one that I picked up after discovering that I didn't have enough fabric to finish the first one... naturally, since I couldn't finish quilt 1 and was looking forward to a night at the sewing machine I got to work on a second project... what is wrong with me!!!!!??????

As of last night here's where I was at with both projects...

FINALLY DONE!!! ( Took me 7 weeks!) Not bad for my first quilt is it? :)

Project number 2

I started sewing all the block together last night! By a happy mistake I ended up have enough material in my stash to do sashing for the two small quilts I have planned outta this project. At lunch hour today I made a little trip to the fabric store to pickup the rest of the material I need... I stayed up until 1am last night trying to figure out the math.... ugh. Trying to figure out how much material one needs for a project is much like a puzzle .. a puzzle that makes your head hurt after a very short period of time...

Anyway, that's all for now folks! Hopefully I get to put a few stitches in on my cross stitch projects soooooooon!

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About Me

"Life is an opportunity!" Corny saying - check! Undeniably true saying - double check! I live by these words. I'm certainly not what you'd call a pessimist and generally strive for the moon rather than for what's sitting right in front of me.
I usually have my hands into something rather than nothing - meaning putting my time into my rediscovered love for cross stitching, whipping up something in the kitchen, or planning my next travel adventure.
This blog will chronicle my little pleasures and my zest for life - anything and EVERYTHING is game!